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Wife of kidnapped Palestinian engineer Dirar Abu Sisi holds Gaza press conference

27th August 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza Team | Gaza, Occupied Palestine

Yesterday Veronika Abu Sisi, the wife of Palestinian electrical engineer Dirar Abu Sisi, spoke with media and supporters in the Gaza Strip to denounce the international kidnapping, summary detention and solitary confinement of her husband.

Veronika Abu Sisi, second from right, stands with supporters. (Photo by Joe Catron)

Veronika Abu Sisi, center, stands with supporters. (Photo by Joe Catron)

“We won’t give up until Dirar Abu Sisi is released,” Veronika Abu Sisi said outside the couple’s Gaza City apartment building. “They steal our land, they put us in jail, but we have the right to live here. This is our home. I just hope my husband will be back soon with me and our children.”

Also yesterday, eight other detainees launched hunger strikes in solidarity with Dirar Abu Sisi’s. Five more joined them today.

Veronika Abu Sisi, left, speaks with supporters. (Photo by Joe Catron)

Veronika Abu Sisi, left, speaks with supporters. (Photo by Joe Catron)

Dirar Abu Sisi, deputy engineer of the Gaza Strip’s only power plant, was kidnapped from an overnight train in Ukraine, his wife’s native country, on 18 February 2011. The Zionist entity announced it had detained him weeks after his disappearance.

On Friday, 16 August, after two and a half years in Zionist captivity without charge or trial, he began an open hunger strike. Following more than a week on hunger strike, in addition to prolonged solitary confinement and other forms of torture, his health, already deteriorating, is reportedly critical.

Young supporters of Dirar Abu Sisi rallied on Gaza on 10 July. (Photo by Joe Catron)

Young supporters of Dirar Abu Sisi rally in Gaza on 10 July. (Photo by Joe Catron)

Dirar and Veronika Abu Sisi have six children: Mousa (13), Malah (11), Aya (9), Mohammad (8), Maria (6) and Osama (4).